Democratic elections commentary

The similarities between India and the U.S. continue to startle me.
I believe I’ve written before of the vitality of this democracy – despite the incredible challenges of poverty and overpopulation, voting is universally accepted and reasonably fair. The news media often uncover stories of attempted vote-buying and intimidation in certain places, but the election commission is widely regarded as fair. And the election commission has remarkable power. During the current state elections in Uttar Pradesh – one of the more populous and corrupt states – the commission prohibited billboards and even liquor sales before the election.

Politicking is confused by a cacophony of regional and interest-group parties. But the two major parties have counterparts in the U.S. Democratic / Republican split. Ronald Reagan’s slogan “It’s Morning in America” fit nicely with the BJP’s slogan “India Shining”; they share similar attitudes about the unique religious foundation of the nation, hold similar public links to their conservative religious counterparts, and hint broadly that “the others” are not really full citizens.
Recently I have noticed the flag-waving jingoism that I thought was unique to true red-blooded Americans is not so unique. India has rather stringent flag-desecration acts on the books, and each political party is eager to wrap itself in the flag, both literally and figuratively. Chris and Cole witnessed an impromptu flag ceremony last October at the border crossing between India and Pakistan.


The main opposition party, the BJP, roughly corresponding to the Republican Party in the U.S., recently filed a court brief claiming that key government offices could only be held by native-born candidates. This was apparently part of their ongoing attempt to discredit Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia, who was Italian-born but now speaks better Hindi than most Indians. The (Indian) Supreme Court fortunately noted that the constitution makes no reference to birthplace requirements for any office.